CAIRO -

The Egyptian paper pound was born as a young giant competing with the most famous and most powerful currencies around the world, but after a long journey of life that spanned more than 123 years, it retreated sharply, losing its luster and strength.

While the Egyptian pound was more than the pound sterling and equivalent to 5 US dollars, its value kept declining until the dollar exchange rate exceeded 18 Egyptian pounds, so how did the journey of the Egyptian pound begin and how did its value decline over the years?

Journey start

On June 25, 1898, Khedive Abbas Helmy II issued a "Decreto" (decree) granting Raphael Soares the right to establish the National Bank of Egypt, and granting the bank the right to issue securities for a period of 50 years that are accepted to pay the princely funds, with the right to exchange these papers in gold. Upon request.

The National Bank Law stipulates that the cover of banknotes shall be based on half of gold and the other half of securities determined by the Egyptian government.

On January 5, 1899, the first Egyptian pound was born, and the exchange rate of the Egyptian paper pound against gold was fixed so that the value of one pound was equal to 7.43 grams of gold, and paper money was not mandatory, but it was subject to change in gold upon request.

With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, a high order was issued by the ruler of Egypt on the second of August 1914 to stop the exchange of this money in gold and to adopt the official legal currency of Egypt, linking it to the pound sterling. The legal exchange rate for the English pound was 97.5 Egyptian piasters (the Egyptian pound is equal to 100 piasters). ).

The Egyptian pound was more than the pound sterling and equivalent to 5 US dollars (Getty Images)

coin throne

Since its first day and for more than 60 years, the Egyptian pound has been one of the most valuable currencies in the world, and it was superior to the currencies of major countries, including the pound sterling and the US dollar, although its value has varied over the years as a result of the major political, military and economic events that the world witnessed in the first half of the century The 20.

The official link of the Egyptian pound to the English currency until 1947, and for several years after that, played a role in some of the decline in the value of the pound during this period, although it maintained its position against the various currencies of the world, the most important of which is the dollar.

Currency exchange rates reported in the US Federal Reserve bulletin since the 1920s show that the Egyptian pound was the most valuable currency against the US dollar among 39 different currencies that were included in the report periodically.

Historic stations

The historical stages that the Egyptian pound has gone through since its adoption as official cash for the state can be divided into several stations as follows:


Excellence From the beginning of the 20th century until 1939, the Egyptian pound was worth about $5, and this period did not witness a decline in the exchange rate of the Egyptian pound against the dollar except for years. Three started in 1931 after the devaluation of the pound sterling and the rest of the associated currencies followed.

The exchange rate of the Egyptian pound fell in 1931 to equal to 4.6 dollars and then fell to 3.6 dollars in 1932, before it began to rise again in 1933 after the United States decided to reduce the US dollar to 59.06% of its metal value in March 1933 to make the pound equal to 4.34 dollars.

And quickly, the Egyptian pound returned strongly in the following year 1934 to exceed 5 dollars (5.16 dollars), and during the following years it remained exceeding the 5 dollars barrier until it began to decline in 1939 with the beginning of World War II.

limited retreat

The Egyptian pound has been declining since the beginning of 1939 until it reached $4.32 in September, the month of the Second World War, and for 10 years the price of the pound stabilized at about $4, before declining by about 30.5% in September 1949.

Two years before that date, specifically in July 1947, Egypt broke its official currency link with the pound sterling, and previously joined the International Monetary Fund, and the value of the Egyptian pound at that time was equal to 3.67 grams of pure gold, equivalent to 4.13 dollars.

Despite the disengagement from the English currency, the Egyptian pound remained affected by the fluctuations of the pound sterling because almost all of its monetary cover was still made up of British bonds, so when the pound sterling depreciated in September 1949 by 30.5% of its value, the Egyptian pound followed after only a quarter of an hour with the same The value drops to $2.87.

relative stability

Since that date, the US dollar has become approximately equal to about 0.35 pounds, a price that continued until 1961, before the pound fell slightly, to become the price of the dollar 0.4 pounds in 1962 and then 0.43 pounds from 1963 to 1972, according to the data available in the bank’s database. International currency for the Egyptian.

The pound rose again in 1973, when the price of the dollar fell to 0.40 and then 0.39 until 1978. In 1979, the Egyptian currency lost almost half of its value with the adoption of the openness policy, bringing the price of the dollar to 0.70 pounds, and the pound remained stable for nine years before its value declined again in 1989 Where the price of the dollar reached 0.87 pounds.

Retreat without return

With the beginning of the nineties and the adoption of the policy of "economic reform", the pound began to decline sharply, making way for the dollar to surpass the Egyptian currency for the first time in more than 9 decades, and the price of the dollar reached 1.5 pounds in 1990, and in the following year the pound continued to decline and the dollar jumped to 3.14 pounds and the decline continued The price of the dollar stabilized at 3.39 pounds between 1994 and 1998.

The pound kept declining gradually until the dollar crossed the barrier of 4 pounds in 2002, then the decision came to completely float the pound in 2003, its value plummeted, and the average price of the dollar reached 6.28 pounds in 2004, before it fell slightly and fluctuated up and down to the level of 5.9 pounds to the dollar when the “25 revolution occurred.” January 2011.

After the revolution, the pound was subjected to other stages of devaluation against the dollar, whose price rose to more than 6 pounds, then exceeded 7 pounds, to reach 7.7 pounds in 2015 and 8.88 pounds in March 2016.

Between flotation and stability

On November 3, 2016, the Central Bank of Egypt decided to liberalize the exchange rate of the pound (floating the pound) so that the dollar recorded the price of 13 pounds, and the pound continued to decline against the dollar, which reached its highest price on January 24, 2017, when the dollar reached 18.94 pounds, Before it began to gradually decline over the following years, until it reached 15.66 pounds on March 20, 2022.

On March 21, 2022, the Egyptians woke up to a new episode of the series of the Egyptian pound's decline against the US dollar, as part of what the authorities said was an attempt to overcome the economic repercussions of the war in Ukraine.

The average exchange rate of the US dollar in Egyptian banks jumped to 18.26 pounds for sale and 18.17 pounds for purchase, then rose to 18.55 for sale and 18.45 for purchase the next day, before falling back to 18.42 for sale and 18.32 for purchase by the end of yesterday, Wednesday, March 23 / March.